Retribution
by dunadaness
Summary: Set after X3, Mystique gets her revenge.


The night was hot and sticky and Warren Worthington Jr tossed and turned in bed hoping that sleep would come, it didn't. For a man with five luxury air-conditioned homes being reduced to living in a small cabin in the middle of an Iowa forest was a humiliation, but after the events in San Francisco some of the mutants had escaped capture and his son had thought it best to hide him away out here until things calmed down. That thought didn't make it any easier to sleep.

Some primal sense told him he was no longer alone and he bolted up in bed, staring into the darkness, his ageing eyes struggling to adjust. The figure would have been entirely invisible were it not for the yellow eyes glowing like lamps in the darkness, heart beating faster he switched on his bedside lamp, banishing the shadows and revealing the lizard-like blue woman standing calmly at the foot of his bed.

"Impossible!" He gasped, recognising the intruder with a thrill of terror, her repulsive blue features having once decorated a thousand Wanted posters, but she had been cured! For a moment he hoped he was hallucinating, then out of sheer desperation he made a grab for the phone on his bedside table and was surprised he was able to reach it, his trembling fingers struggling to unlock it only to see the words 'No Signal' shining at him from the surface. Pushing down a wave of panic he fumbled with the drawer, pulling out the Magnum pistol inside and pointing it at the mutant terrorist. The trigger clicked ominously, Warren pulled it again and again, desperately hoping it had jammed, each time with the same result.

Mystique had not so much as moved a muscle, those horrible yellow eyes watching him hatefully and as their gazes met she _smiled_.

He soiled himself.

"Your cure took everything from me." She spoke finally, her weirdly echoing voice tinged with a hatred so bitter it made him cringe. "It's only fair I return the favour; your wealth, your life, they belong to me now." It was enough to rouse him for one desperate bid to save his life and with a speed he thought he'd left behind a decade ago he sprang for the door, hoping to call to the security patrolling outside.

He made it barely halfway before a single hand seized him, yanking him back with iron strength and tossing him bodily back onto the bed, one blue foot pressing right into his windpipe. He gagged, grabbing the scaly leg with both his hands and trying to force it off him, but her scales rippled sharper against his palms, slicing them to ribbons and forcing him to let go. He fought for a gulp of oxygen, his chest feeling ready to burst, the mutant looking down at him uncaringly, speaking as calmly as if discussing the weather.

"I'm stronger now, **much** stronger and ironically I have a worthless Homo Sapien to thank for it. Because of that I'll spare your son, but he will receive nothing that was yours and I'll see to it he hates your memory." Stars were bursting in his vision now, the pain in his chest so severe that he realised it could only be his heart failing. His last thought was for his son, if only he could tell him he regretted what he had done and that he would always love him, wings or not…and then Warren Worthington Jr knew no more.

Mystique spared the corpse a disinterested look, reaching forward to pluck the phone from the bed, nodding to the security guard who appeared in the doorway. The younger Worthington should have been more careful about who he hired; GMX Security had been hers since she had killed its founder a half-century before, a useful resource for taking care of the odds and ends she lacked the time for. The guard would take care of the body, trash dealing with trash, in that respect a human could be useful every now and then.

Deactivating the cellphone jammer nestled within her thigh she strode unhurriedly toward Warren Worthington Junior's supposed getaway car, rippling into his likeness as she went, a dark smile playing on the old man's lips. She had a company to seize/p

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Author's Note: This is my very first X-Men story which came to me while writing a larger X-Men fic. Mystique in this story is based solely on the character in the Original Trilogy and not the subsequent films. Please read and review! Next Chapter: Erik


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